Porto Carras
Porto Carras (Greek: Πόρτο Καρράς), known as Porto Carras Grand Resort, is one of northern Greece's largest and most famous hotels and holiday resorts. It is located on Sithonia, Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece. It is about 120 km away from Greece's second biggest city, Thessaloniki.
Porto Carras was created by Yiannis Carras, a Greek businessman and ship-owner. Originally it was planned with the renowned architect Walter Gropius, but the construction works started posthumously in 1973. The project brought a revolution to Halkidiki's tourism. Porto Carras Grand Resort includes two major hotels, the 5-star Meliton and Sithonia as well as Village Inn, which is a bungalow-style residence. There are also 45,000 olive trees; basketball, football, tennis and golf sports areas as well as a vineyard covering an area of 475,000 m². Porto Carras is home to the biggest private marina in northern Greece and one of the largest in South Eastern Europe as well as to a thalassotherapy and Spa center. It also contains restaurants, interior and beach bars and an estival cinema theater. The current owner of Porto Carras is the Athens-based company Olympiaki Techniki AE.
The resort of Porto Carras is near the traditional village of Neos Marmaras; a tourist destination, busy during the summer period, with lots of restaurants, cafeterias and tourist shops.
European Union Summit (2003)
During June 2003, Porto Carras was the place of the Thessaloniki European Union Summit; organized under the Greek Presidency, during which the draft Constitution of the E.U. was presented for first time. The 25 leaders of European Union, along with Turkey's Prime Minister and the heads of NATO and E.U. took part in an official dinner, hosted by the then President of the Hellenic Republic.